Hospital Knitting

Last Friday, I was in the mood for some basic knitting. Little did I know this project would be perfect for the hospital waiting room! I started with a seed-stitch border, and the center design will be a four-patch of stockinette. You can see in the middle where I change from knits to purls. I'm aiming for about a 24" square baby blanket...we'll see if I have enough yarn! This is left over from the log cabin blanket I finished last fall. Since there is no real plan, if I run out of yarn the alternative is to rip it out and do something multi-colored.

I took my Rockin Socks along. I am almost to the heel of sock #2.

The sock was a big hit with the little girls who came to visit my brother's roommate. One of them was practically in my lap watching me knit! She even asked if I would make her some - oh my. I kindly explained that it would take too long. ;-)

And I came home to a new Rockin Sock kit:
The color is "Flower Power." This month the theme is "Summer of Love" - a throwback to 1967 hippies. Personally, I think of more yellow and orange with the turquoise and purple of that era, but whatever...the 2007 yarn is gorgeous!

Not really a vacation

I've spent the last two days at United Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota.

My brother was in this bike race (logo actually says "Grow a spine"):

when he crashed into a tree and broke his neck. Now, don't panic, that phrase brings to mind a horrible image, and in reality, he's doing fine. He had surgery to replace a disk and insert a plate to hold everything together, and he's sporting a fancy neck brace that will be his new fashion accessory for the next six weeks. His wife and I joked about knitting him a lacy collar to accessorize!

A few years ago, my husband was in a bad motorcycle accident, crushed his left knee, and spent 10 days in the hospital. I knew my sister-in-law would need some company so I flew up to sit in the hospital with her since my parents were out of town. Despite the surroundings, we had a nice visit and I got some knitting done! Photos will follow soon. Plus, I came home to the latest Rockin Sock Club package, yippee!

I'll end with this happy face:

Waiting...

Does this look like a sick child to you?


I didn't think so. But, she was running a low fever - just over the acceptable limit for daycare, so I got an unexpected day off on Monday. Then, on Tuesday afternoon, I got to the parking lot and my car was dead. What's next?!?

Good news, though. My first Solstice Slip sock is done. It's the Firebird colorway for the Rockin Sock Club. Pooling on the foot: Side view...
And a detail shot of the pattern and my first-ever picot bind-off!

I kept the sock a little short because I got bored. Sad, huh? It's beautiful yarn and I think the picot edge is a fun detail. Maybe I need a basic pair of socks when I have such wonderful colors! I'm thinking of knitting a sundress for Baby K in this yarn too. I know I've said before that it reminds me of a summer popsicle!

Surprise - Fiber Content!

I have become a night-owl quilter. I went to the monthly Quilt In at Cotton Fields, which is the first time I've done any piecing since Quilt Camp in July! Quilt In is a marathon night of sewing, from 6pm to midnight. I got the rows put together and the final borders on Aurora Aura, which I started in a class with Karla Alexander.

I don't have backing for it, so it will languish in my longarm UFO pile for the near future.

I got to do some shopping with other people's money...of course that means that I don't get to keep any of it, oh darn! I chose some fabric from the "Urban Garden" line from Free Spirit to donate as a door prize for our state guild's fall meeting. My local chapter paid for it, I just did the shopping!

School is back in session. My husband teaches in the afternoon/evening, so my free time is taken up with Baby K. It seems like too much of a chore to drag out the sewing machine for an hour after she goes to bed, but I may go into withdrawal if I wait another month to do more quilting.

Last of the bunnies

Baby K is sooooo big! She turned one year old yesterday!

Excuse the vacant stare, the TV was on while I took the last bunch of bunny pictures.

Grandma hosted the birthday party...

Grandpa bought her a pony...

And she really enjoyed the cake!

What a cute kid!

Baby K is learning to blow kisses!

We stayed home this morning since the daycare center called me yesterday afternoon - she was running a fever and had become quite a snot factory. A few doses of baby Tylenol and a good night's sleep and all is well. I want her to be fresh and cheerful for her birthday party tomorrow, so we'll have another nap this morning then she'll go to Grandma's house for a bit while I go to school and make a few more copies of first day activities. One of my fellow teacher/moms reminded me to have a well-stocked emergency folder for future sick calls!

Baby K likes to climb. Here she is INSIDE her toy box.

TGIF and Happy back-to-school season!

Sticking to the schedule

Here is Baby K in her "big girl" forward-facing car seat. We hung the rings and a stuffed pig from the handle above the window and she obviously entertains herself.

I went ahead and took her to daycare today and came right back home to quilt. I wanted to get this charity quilt done for my guild meeting tonight:

The fabric is a toile-type print. I think my blue thread was too dark, but that's the lightest shade I had. And I didn't want to spend alot of time ripping out the squares I had done to see what cream would look like! More second guessing...maybe a more traditional pattern, such as a formal feather wreath, would have been better. Oh well, it's done now!

Here's a detail picture of my spiral flower:

Tomorrow the whole family has to get up and out of the house by 7am. Yikes! Luckily the diaper bag doesn't have to be quite as full when you're going to daycare...they supply diapers and food, so I just pack her teddy bear and a change of clothes.

B. is discovering the wonderful world of teaching...it's his first year, they want a complete syllabus, pre-test and lesson plans, and they've kept him busy with five straight days of meetings, plus a Saturday open house/BBQ at school. I've been very lucky with my school, the department is cohesive and I rarely have to make things up from scratch. For instance, I mentioned the changes to my curriculum...I'll get together with the other teachers for that course and we will "divide and conquer" to make the necessary changes to the unit plans and worksheets that we all use.

BTW, we get alot of comments that it is really early to go back to school. My response - I'd rather use the school's air conditioning than my own! Plus, we're done before Memorial Day in May, so it works out the same.

First Day Jitters

for Mommy, not Baby K! She enjoyed daycare as much as we thought she would, given her extroverted personality. What a little charmer.

She was tired when she got home, since she didn't take at nap. Too busy playing!

And in knitting news, I got bored with my socks and returned to plain garter stitch...

This is the last panel for my striped vest. I am about 30 rows from the end, then I can get busy seaming. I knit the ends in as I went along, so that is one less obstacle to a finished object :-)

Last Friday of Freedom

The Phoenix Mercury are #1 in the Western Conference! Woo-Hoo! It's been about 7 years since we've been in the playoffs and I'm looking forward to basketball in September. Way to go ladies!! This photo shows our starting line up, (from left) Diana Turasi, Penny Taylor and Cappie Pondexter. Here is Baby K with an early birthday present. We're trying to encourage the musical abilities, but so far she mainly uses the mallet as a chew toy!

I have a quilting dilemma. My local guild does a round robin for charity, and the quilt they gave me to work on has simple framed squares. I started to do a freehand Baptist fan type design (which I have done before) but the first two squares came out really wobbly. I hate to spend the time ripping out, but it's a pretty bad example of my work! I sketched out a spiral flower that I will use instead. Not really a dilemma since I have a solution I suppose!

Monday I am going to school to get my keys and start setting up my classroom. I got a message this week that the District Office has revamped my curriculum, so I'll have to spend some time comparing what I did last year with the new plan. Minor headache...I really wanted to be able to go in and make copies of the worksheets so I'm ready for the whole first unit, but it looks like another year of only being a day ahead of the kids!

Baby K Update

My mom was complaining that the blog didn't have enough pictures of the baby. Here you go, Mom!

Baby K has really started to cuddle with her stuffed animals. Her pink bear becomes a pillow at nap time... Baby K is really fussy about her clothes. We had to take this outfit off right after we took this picture because the spaghetti straps were annoying and she threw a hissy fit! Just another reason why I prefer a simple cotton onesie...

Recent efforts

I don't take pictures of customer quilts...too hard to get good shots of my quilting efforts! So that's why there have been no photos on the blog - I'm busy at the longarm! One of the recent quilts was the popular "Paperweights" pattern. I use six colors of thread:New Info: Paperweights is a pattern by Aardvark Quilts. That's the same designer as the bright orange wuilt I made in May...great stuff!

I finished the little bit of handwork on my 3-D "tucked and tweaked" sunflower. There are beads in the center. I could have added a few more, but I need room to add quilted details too.

This is the fat quarter of fabric for the 2008 IMQA challenge. I have some ideas for it, but right now it's just decoration on my design wall!